Insta-worthy, healthy treats you can get made-to-order and delivered straight to your door.

What if I told you that all of the following were just plain delicious...?

Yeah, it's not a hard sell.

But now what if I suggested that all of the above were healthy, and I'm not talking slightly less sugar (or other unmentionables) than usual - these goodies are lovingly designed and baked by fitness foodie, Valerie Azinge, Founder of My Digital Kitchen, who's on a mission to bring diabetic-friendly treats into the mainstream.

Best part is they don't taste like "food for people with diabetes".

From Macro-Tracking Blogger to Catering Entrepreneur

Although Valerie has always been passionate about general health and wellness, her journey started in 2012 when she decided to get healthy “the right way.”

"I hired a personal trainer and also consulted a nutritionist to create a meal plan for me based on my dietary preferences."

However, due to her allergies to beef and most meats, she is pescatarian which limits her protein intake to seafood and plant based sources.

"Still, I wanted healthy desserts incorporated into my meal plan, but my only options my nutritionist recommended at the time were some protein bars, dates, fruit or peanut butter oatmeal bites, which didn’t taste bad, but soaked out all the moisture in my mouth."

"I might as well have done the cinnamon challenge."

"Since my sweet tooth wasn’t going away anytime soon, I started doing my research on ways I could create desserts that weren’t only healthy, but could be permanently incorporated into my dietary lifestyle. "

Valerie started posting her spin on healthy savoury and dessert recipes on her Instagram page for fun, then one thing let to another, and the page blew up. Some of her followers suggested she start a blog, which launched in 2012. A few years later, she began getting requests to provide care packages for some of the cookies and cupcake recipes.

"It was interesting to see that most of the requests where coming from people who were either on a fitness journey, losing weight, or people who were pre-diabetic or diabetic."

"Seeing how rapidly the health conscious market was growing, I decided to focus on it by tapping into it full time. So I quit my full time job at the law firm and started my own healthy dessert catering business!"

Why So Low?

Valerie explained that the premise behind all of her recipes and catered treats are to satisfy your taste buds but not upset your tummy! I couldn't help but ask, especially with the surge of "Bulletproof eating" and the keto diet being in the limelight these days: why are you still focusing on low fat items? Isn't that "old-school"?

"A lot of the dense caloric amount come from fat and sugar, so if a recipe has a high amount of fat and sugar (somewhere over 30 grams) it affects the calories negatively.

Desserts are common for having a high amount of fat and sugar. When consumed frequently, they can impact your health negatively in the long term, like causing high cholesterol or even diabetes - to name a few.

My formula for the healthy desserts I create is to minimize the fat and sugar content to 15 grams or less, while maintaining its gluten free, dairy free, paleo, or vegan standards.

Plus, all the desserts we cater all contain a superfood!"

Health Hacks

"I find that a lot of desserts that are mass produced with cheap ingredients often contain a large quantity of sugar and fat (shortening, vegetable oil, etc.) which are both used to disguise the poor quality of the ingredients used to make it. With our desserts, I focus on creating an experience in which the consumer can savour and appreciate all the ingredients added to the dessert."

Valerie does note that the addition of sugar or healthy fats isn’t meant to disguise the flavour of the desserts either - it’s solely for complimentary purposes...and to bring out the pure goodness within!

Whoopie What?!

But apparently I still hadn't lived: I had yet to taste a whoopie pie.

Okay, let me get you up to speed on this life-changing party in your mouth: they are basically two cake-y soft cookies with a cream filling in the middle. Valerie explains,

"Although traditional whoopie pies are a delight, they too like many other desserts rack up a high fat and sugar content which raises the calories (some whoopie pies can be close to 470-500 calories per piece!). Our whoopie pies however are low in fat and sugar, high in protein, contain 250-270 calories per serving, and are high in antioxidants because of the superfoods added to them!"

I highly recommend trying them for yourself, and if you just so happen to be in the Toronto area, it's easy - you can order direct from My Digital Kitchen here.

Fancy more healthy recipes to inspire you to eat clean without giving up any flavour? Check out the My Digital Kitchen blog.

*Note: All photos were taken in the hip new Kitchen 24 Space --> a cool new community of “foodpreneurs” and a place where you can connect, collaborate and innovate. Thanks again for having us!